0maro0 Reviews

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)

It's atrocious

[26 February 2024]

I love the first film. It has a good story, cinematography and choreography.

The second one has none of that. The plot makes no sense, heavily suffers from telling instead of showing and lacks adequate pacing. The scenes are beautiful, but they are nothing more than a set of pretty pictures without any meaning and harmony behind them. The fights are the most disappointing part, they don't feel like some intricate dance anymore, but like a meaningless streak of violence with no frame to it. The acting from the new cast is also subpar, so it's even more tedious to watch when the new characters are on screen.

Oh, and don't forget the "sexual harassment towards men played as a joke" trope, because it's exactly what that scene in the museum is.

The Good Place (2016–2020)

I feel dead inside after watching this show

[7 February 2022]

Some comedy it is. I'd rather watch some boring five hours long art-house, that would be much more fun for sure.

I mean, it had some potential, but it just gets so cheesy and irritating towards the end of season 2. Maybe it's the unnecessary heteronotmative romance getting too noticeable. Maybe it's the moral absolutism of how this "learning to be a better person" line is presented. Maybe it's the fact that the show is not enough, neither as a dark comedy, nor as a quirky metamodernistic comedy, both of which could've worked in the set context. Instead, it is just bleak, and not in a good way.

What If...?: What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? (2021) Season 1, Episode 4

good old boring marvel

[1 October 2021]

This episode has some great visuals and just fantastic animation (just like the rest of the show), but storywise it is quite primitive, just like the most of mcu products.

Honestly, I dig the "got obsessed with changing the past" thing, as well as "turning to questionable methods" thing, but generally speaking plot of this episode doesn't make a lot of sense. At closer look it's just a bunch of overused cliches that weren't anyhow adapted to the inner logic of this show's world.

1) Fixed point concept. Personally, some kind of magic curse or universal consequence that Strange caught by meddling with timelines too much would be more believable than explanation offered by the episode. It is really hard to maintain suspencion of disbelief when the show about alternate timelines and multiple choices tells me same old story about fixed time points and paradoxes. Sounds a little paradoxical, eh?

2) The "there's forbidden knowledge that will turn you evil" thing. I get that this is some kind of metaphor for atomic bomb and other "people of knowledge accidentally producing something that may trigger awful events" situations. Still, the trope is quite old, especially if we are talking about magic powers and such. It is especially bad in the context of absorbing other beings (without any indication of them being sentient) and changing in the process of this absorption. I doub't that first part would be some terrible from Strange's point of view, since it's highly unlikely he's an ideological vegan deeply interested in posthumanism philosophy (it would be a very interesting twist, but alas). As for second part, the concept of "frightening otherwordly change" is getting obsolete. There's something very normative about presenting changes (to body or to mind) coming from inhuman source as something inherently evil, through them depicting character development into their darker self. It would be more exciting to see such transformations occuring in dfferent light. The change is terryfing, but the character maintains their moral values and keep their priorities straight. Or, the transformation is what they actually need to sort things out and return to reason. Or, the transformation is just there as it is, exsiting neutrally without any moral alteration to the character. A truly "what if" situation, not just "what if it would be even more utterly predictable than original".

3) Going against your evil doppelganger. It's classic of course, but there it's kinda boring. Conventionally good guy versus conventually bad guy, salvation versus destruction. It has no edge to it, and either way you can imagine how things will play out, because there are only two predictable options. Why not give both characters their own egoistical agenda and questionable methods of reaching their goals? Or, why not give the story some kind of a twist where "conventionally good" one accidentally triggers the worst result? Anything would fit the "what if" narrative more than what was actually depicted.

4) The ending. It is dark, and I love it. It, as everything else, doesn't make sense. If the universe is destroyed shouldn't Strange cease to exist as well? And if he still exists, why can't he just travel back, let her die and fix the paradox? The only reason he can exist while everything else doesn't is that he is what's causing this paradoxical situation, so he is not really the part of it, being either the only possible consequence of his actions or the only impossible one. Nothing really stops him from going back in time and undoing all this mess, because if we accept the "utter destruction of time and space" kind of explanation, it would mean his own destruction as well. Or, let's say in the process of all these manipulations he's ascended or something and now he is the only thing that can't be destroyed while everything else is lost for good - that would mean either transgression to some alternate inhuman state or, just hear me out, maybe an ability to restore all that was done or create a new kind of universe on his own. I am just saying, complete destruction and resulted nothingness isn't the most logical thing that could've happened here and isn't even the worst one.

Love the visuals though. Artists working on this project are very talented people.

Birds of Prey (2020)

Finally, a superhero movie I (almost) like

[27 September 2021]

The film is fun, easy to watch and unlike many other "comic book movies" doesn't reek of hidden sexism and heteronormativity. It still feels very binary at times, but I guess it can be excused, since it's still better than anything else on the market and since Harley's emancipation (which is the main plot point of the movie) consists of recovering from abusive relationship (with a man) and actualizing her femininity outside of frames of "male gaze". It is an important point of Harley's story, since when she's in relationship with Joker she's often presented as a very dependent person with fractured sense of self. This movie does a great job giving her an agenda and tracing her journey of looking for new identity, not based on being in romantic relationship or being someone's sidekick. At times it kinda feels like commodification of feminism, but I will excuse any commodification for a movie about group of badass chicks in stylish outfits antagonizing local gay supervillain. It would be nice to have more films like this, because I am really tired of heteronormativity in this genre and in 2020-s diversity in themes and representation shouldn't be perceived as some kind of forced agenda.

By the way, was quite amused to see some parallels with Tarantino's Death Proof. Disgraceful chick flicks all the way, from 2007 to this daY. And I need moooooore!!!!!!

The Flight Attendant (2020–2022)

Love this

[16 April 2021]

What a show! Story is good, characters are great, it passes Bechdel test. Also, Miranda is just a perfection. That's it, the show is great.

The Platform (2019)

horrifyingly boring

[15 April 2021]

Do you like obvious things and basic allegories? If so, this film is just for you. Don't get me wrong, I'm ready to critize the system as much as any leftist, but such simple stories are, well, just too simle to capture the attention. Yes, it's very well made. Yes, actors are fabulous. Yes, the premise about social inequality (etc.,etc.) is not wrong at all. But. This film is tediously boring. And not in the sense of "oh there's nothing happening" or "it's too long and slow", but in the sense of the metaphor it tries to construct. Why, exactly? It feels so forced, so unnatural and crude. I must admit, I can't even bring myself to finish watching this. As a horror fan, I think it fails to horrify if you've watched enough of these movies. As someone who can enjoy a good cinematographic piece: it just doesn't do the job too well. I guess it could be interesting technical- and cultural-wise, as a sort of marker to analyze the time it was created in, but that's mostly it. Not the worst film I've watched, but also not something to enjoy and/or remember. But, at least the main character is good to look at.

Upd.: even more dissatisfied now that I've seen the ending. Child as a symbol of hope trope is just so overused everywhere, and general sense of the film being just unfinished is very irritating.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–2024)

Irritating

[8 April 2021]

People sometimes say to me that I talk too fast. This show made me realise how irritating such thing can be. And it's not just "fast" for this show, it's also the constant screaming, like everyone is some kind of neurotic on stimulators. I mean, it's not so bad at first, but starts to feel weird and forced quite soon. Which is the main problem for the show: it is unnatural. Sure, it's trendy and cynical and all, but this is what kills it. This "real people act like crap and swear all the time" stuff is kinda getting old, especially when it is done all the time. Like literally all the time, this is just example of people who don't understand darc comedy or parody trying to come up with oh so much edgy things and hyperbolization. They just don't get it, which is a shame really, since star trek universe could use some well-thought dark humor.

Though, maybe I am biased, since I also love to rate shows on how irritating they are in their heteronormativity. And this one is very irritating. Not even in the quiet "this is how things go here for everyone" way, but in the "I will shove some of these unnecessary things into your face" way. So yeah, a hard no, especially for an edgy comedy about exploring beyonds and whatsoever.

The New Mutants (2020)

not too complicated, and good because of that

[2 April 2021]

Really liked this one for one reason only -- it's not very good. Not too pretentious and complicated, not filled with some strange feeling of self-importance like superhero movies tend to. In a way, this reminded me of all the stories about teens fighting evil that I used to read as a child. Such things aren't usually complicated, sure, but they don't need to be -- just like this film. It's good as it is, as a simple story of becoming more or less independent, solving problems and fighting against bad things, primaly against your own fear coming from past traumatic experiences. It's also good as it somehow explores pedagogical aspect of X-men universe, a very important one that, nevertheless, gets only glimpses in other X-men films. So, it's nice to finally have something different, painting mutants -- young mutants -- from a new perspective. Sure, this isn't like any of the previous movies, or like other superhero films they make nowadays, but this is exactly why it's so interesting and nice to watch. The New Mutants show that comic-based films don't need to be cliche and cater to soulless commercial standarts.

Also.

WandaVision (2021)

Would be good outside of MCU

[31 March 2021]

It's a decent show with a decent concept. You can see that people who made it did their homework and their job: "sitcoms" mostly seem believable and the only thing where they kinda miss with their shooting format is Office-like parts.

The only thing is wrong with this show, I think, that it belongs to MCU -- and these guys just don't do authentic things anymore. At some points, it just starts feeling fake and one-dimensional, like all of latest Marvel cinematic products do. No matter what, when I watch anything from MCU, I start getting this feeling, very much alike to that of uncanny valley. Something about the character, the story feels artificial and out of place, but I never can put my finger on the particular reason. Maybe, it's my inner cultural critic feeling that these products are nothing more than, well, products, maybe it's something more complex. Nevertheless, WandaVision does it towards the end as well, which really creeps me out.

And yes, it definetely doesn't deserve all the noise around it. Neither any of MCU handiworks, of course, but people like strange things, I guess.

Fate: The Winx Saga (2021–2022)

decent show

[31 March 2021]

I rarely like fantasy shows these days and I am very happy when it finally happens. It's just amazing how authors adapted at best strange source and forged into something new and intersting. Characters are complex, acting and storytelling are quite good, effects/graphics aren't silly. Tech/civilization + magic/fantasy aesthetic combo is a great idea.

Also, while Winx themselves are amazing, I am just in love with Rosalinde. You rarely get to see completely ambiguous character that you will question on every turn, but this is exactly the case. The fact that she is, well, a "she" is even more pleasing. Also, her charisma is just over the roof. Just wow.

The only thing I kinda cringed at was that Sky dude and his romantic storylines. Guilty as charged, but I even skipped some of these, because, ugh, just no, so boring and cliche. Makes me barf and swear at show's heteronormativity, tbh, even though as far as heteronormativity goes this isn't the worst example. Hey, they even have something-kinda-ambiguously-bi character, look at that.

Control (2019 Video Game)

boring and poorly written

[22 February 2021]

That's it. Visuals are pretty good, but in the end everything looks much better until you played it. Story has no life to it, dialogues and inner monologue feel very forced, level design is irritating and contr-intuitive, gameplay is not diverse or comfortable. It isn't the worst game I've played, but it's obviously either very lazy, unimaginative or made by people with no taste. It looks good, sure, but even there this look isn't something complicated that you want to take apart and see how it was made, it's just pretty generic smoothly-looking thing. This game costed quite much when it came out and if I bought it like I wanted to, I would have been very disappointed. It's boring, uncomfortable to play and generally tasteless.

I Love You, Man (2009)

Ugh

[26 January 2021]

Unironically sexist cisheteronormative cringe. Expected a story about some platonic friendship devoid of stereotypes about masculinity and got, well, this. How would anyone find it even remotely funny is beyond me.

Dead Man on Campus (1998)

quite sincere

[14 January 2021]

I like it. It makes me feel good. Despite unconventional theme and the plot, this film is not some kind of cynical mess. People behave like people and with great acting it's easy to believe in the story. The film itself isn't edgy, but it isn't sweet either. It just feels real, sincere.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Ending scene!!!

[4 January 2021]

I wouldn't think anything about this movie if not for the ending scene where everyone dances. It's just amazing and I love it.

I Spit on Your Grave (2010)

So bad it's hilarious

[4 January 2021]

Somehow, this film manages to be disgustingly graphic and not graphic enough at the same time. Rape scene is a joke, I've seen non-horror movies presenting this in much more tragic and unnerving way. It's filmed to be "scary", but it's completely censored and lacks any pshychological tension. Similar with revenge scenes: they are gory and stereorypically "horror-like", but not holding any shock value beyond blatant violence. There's splatter genre, of course, but film's concept honestly deserves better. Besides, it's not even that graphic, this totally could be filmed in much more revealing way. I mean, if they were going for it, at least should've done their job right. But this is not the worst thing about this movie. It has two: writing and acting, which brings us to hilarious part. How characters act, what they say - this can't be percieved normally. At some point, you will probably start to laugh because of how idiotic all of it is. People can talk like that, of course - in cheap pornography, that is. The only believable character is Matthew. I suspect it's because actor who plays him, well, actually decides to play. Also, Matthew doesn't have a lot of lines, so writer can't really ruin the image here. Too bad, though, since one actor can't really hold the whole story on their shoulders. It's just... Everything. Bad cinematography, predictable plot, characters that seem completely fake and average attempt to "cure" it with gore. Doesn't work like that. Can't work like that.

Cube (1997)

good horror, but nothing more

[2 January 2021]

It's not bad as far as horror films go, but it's not anything special. It really, really doesn't push its philosophy far enough to be a fancy art-house, and this is a big shame.

Stranger Things: Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt (2019) Season 3, Episode 8

why did I even spend my time on this show?

[2 January 2021]

I don't know why and how this episode's rating is so high. Second half of it is just unbearable, and this is as much about a plot as it is about how this is filmed. I dig the "evil russians" trope. As a russian, I find it hilarious. The problem is, this trope shouldn't exist in such a grim environment. Silly bad guys get beaten up and that's it, the story ends on relatively bright note, like it ended on season 1 and season 2. It's simple, but it works with show's tone. You don't need to invent a bike, how the russian saying goes. Season 3, however, feels like it needs to invent a bike. It aches to create an unnecessary tension to play with your feelings, and it fails miserably. Maybe it's just me, but if I wanted to see a pretentiously dramatic show so boring it could be used to cure insomnia, I wouldn't be watching Stranger Things. I would be watching Supernatural, or something. It's just, every story is told in certain way and has a certain atmosphere. It can be disturbed or deconstructed to create a powerful emotional effect, but here it's just almost completely ruined for unknown purposes. Being subjected to such blatant and out-of-place emotional manipulation, I won't feel sad. I will feel frustrated and decide not to care, about story, or characters, or this media in general. Why would I, honestly? "Ooooh is this character dead or not? Such a mistery! Oooooh bad evil guys cliffhanger scene, oooh so interesting!!! Ooooooohoho long emotional pauses with sad music!!!!!!!!!!!". What a joke.

Triangle (2009)

An unintelligible mess

[23 December 2020]

Interesting concept, interesting start. Bad continuation and ending. Motivation and actions of main character is unclear, there's really no reason for her to act as she acts. She could be in shock, of course, but this isn't shown enough to be a plausible explanation either. She doesn't really fight the loop, she doesn't tries to stop accidents and murders from happening half of the time she witnesses them and after discovering the presumable need to kill everyone she just goes all "huh, guess I'll do it, no other choice", without even trying to do something else, anything else. It makes no sense if she doesn't have her memories, and it makes even less sense if she does. As far as I'm concerned, this film is a comedy about the most illogical and irritating person ever.

Ella Enchanted (2004)

It's great

[23 December 2020]

I don't know how many times I watched this film as a kid. It was good back then, but now as I rewatched it in English and from adult point of view, it is so much better. It's absurd, hyperbolized, naive, has a lot of cultural references and a happy ending. What's more to want, really?

Man Bites Dog (1992)

thanks, I hate whatever this is

[23 December 2020]

What is it, exactly? For a parody of french new-wave, it's too violent. For a dark comedy, it lacks much needed frame for its violence. For some kind of thriller or horror, it tries to be comedic parody too much and thus lacks the correct atmosphere. It is not funny, it doesn't understand the tone, the feeling of french new-wave and obviously can't recreate it. The idea of creating dark comedy or thriller/horror in such style is a good one if done correctly, but why oh why anyone would want to film a parody of it? Who needs such a thing? A man with no taste who hates cinematography? An edgy director with desire to be noticed no matter what? This is just sad. Also, violence. I'm not a prude (or so I hope), but when I witness extreme violence on screen I want to have a reason for it. Movies that utilize it should offer something in return, should frame it some way, make it organic part of the story and not just violence for the sake of violence. You can't just point at something horrible and laugh, it won't be funny, it will be torture porn. I honestly lost it at the rape scene, because honestly, this is the point where authors' patriarchal nature shows and where this film loses any hope of being comedy, becoming something dark instead. Not dark in a good, comedic way, like it happens in many dark comedies, when violence hits its peak towards the end, no, in a "somebody please stop the director, he's not well" kind of way. Could probably work in thriller, but oh oh, should not call the film a comedy then. Should not make it an unnecessary unsuccessful parody either. Also, it's just boring. I can watch boring auteur films for its artistic value, but this is? You will just get bored, bored and disgusted. This is just a scam. A boring and disgusting scam.

21 Jump Street (2012)

what exactly was that?

[19 December 2020]

I love dark comedy and dirty jokes, but this is just... Meh. Not violent enough, not sincere enough either, and not interesting enough. I finished watching it only because I have this need to check if maybe things get better at the very end -- but no, they only get worse. This film feels manyfactured and stupid, completely out of it and not in a good way: it's like someone just wrote down a list of what they think will be perceived as obscene or improper and then shoved it into the script without a second thought. There are some good jokes and themes, but together it just doesn't work, doesn't sync. Characters are not charismatic enough to care, world is too flat to be believable and the movie itself has no soul.

Evil Dead (2013)

mediocre at best

[1 October 2020]

Would be a decent nothing-special kind of movie, if not for satanic symbolism. Have no idea why they put it in there, even in 2013 it was cliche, outdated and not even a little bit ominous. Most of the common symbols became pop-cultural and didn't even had some "evil" heritage behind them to begin with. Necronomicon from original trilogy and recent TV series is scary (and interesting) exactly because it uses "strange" letters and "strange" pictures, something unknown and not possessing any obvious cultural/historical meaning.

Posledniy ministr (2020– )

very enjoyable

[16 July 2020]

I loved it and can't wait for the next season. this is a very interesting story with decently written characters, good plot and relevant satire. everything is great with technical side of things and actors' performance, as well as with sudden absence of sexism and gender stereotypes. anyway, all the drama and rapidly progressing events won't leave you bored and indifferent. the show is just great, totally advise to watch.

Ace Attorney (2012)

surprisingly amazing

[16 July 2020]

Best movie ever made. I expected it to be some low quality trash, but oh boy let me tell you - it is some highest quality trash! damn. this film stands to the standard set by the game and complements it in all the good ways. adaptation is surprisingly adequate - with obvious need to work with cinematic format that requires certain changes to the source material, authors did a great job feeling said material and shaping it into a new form - perhaps even superior one. by that I mean: whoever filmed this knew their business damn well. certain scenes just left me stunned with their powerful image - this kind of cinematography is usually expected from some auteur films. a surprise, but very pleasant one - as well as courtroom scenes and the whole set up to this new juridical system to explain what the hell is going on. with all the posh tech it creates sort of an absurd dystopian vibe - one that transforms insanity of the game into corporeal form and allows it to be believable. so, yeah 10/10, gread addition to Ace Attorney games. the only bad thing about it is the fact that now I desperately want to watch something as good and as fun as this masterpiece, but I doubt another gem like this can ever be found... ... ............

Scream 4 (2011)

a way to destroy scream trilogy

[14 July 2020]

To be honest, from the poster and year of production I expected it to be somehow worse than the original - to lack certain atmosphere 90s and early 00s films usually have. I just didn't expect it to be so bad. I guess the main problem is the film not being able to reconstruct this sweet 90s vibe due to change of times and change of tech, but in the same time not being able to recognize some other atmosphere, to invent something new. while scream 1,2,3 was a series of grandiose meta-commentaries on horror genre, while they just so harmonically worked as a whole and felt so alive due to authors having a firm grasp on the epoca and its cinematography, scream 4 just seems like a piece no coherent person would ever create. times changed, but it seems the authors didn't change with it, since the whole thing appears to be a futile attempt to be hip and aware of current cultural logic and cinematographic tendencies. "futile" is the key word here, since every time fourth wall is broken it's just embarrassing - it feels just like a bunch of random commentaries of questionable truth being brought together without any connection to each other or the plot. the incredibly weak plot that lacks interesting story, and suspence, and empathizing characters, and god forbid even lacks good killings. so, all the good things about scream trilogy are completely gone - the gore, the plot and the grand commentary here are nowhere to be found. why anyone would watch it and genuinely decide it was good is beyond me... people like that either enjoy films of obviously low quality in some ironic way or just lack any taste in cinema. probably. regardless, this film doesn't worth anyone's time.